Source:Just Within Reach
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: Vicki Hanna June 6,
2002
Musician and Kentucky Native Kevin Richardson Urges
Senate Leaders to Stop Further Destruction of
Appalachian Waterways
Washington, D.C. � Musician Kevin Richardson
(Backstreet Boys) provided personal testimony on the
issues of coal mining and valley fill today, at a
hearing for the Clean Air, Climate Change and Wetlands
subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Environment
and Public Works. Richardson, 30, is a native of
Lexington, Kentucky, and got involved in the issue
last year when he took a SouthWings-sponsored flight
over the coalfields. With a bird�s-eye-view,
Richardson learned firsthand the issues of valley fill
(the act of filling natural, forested valleys with
process mining waste) and the devastating impact the
practice has on Appalachian waterways.
�Valley fills destroy the spawning grounds that
support our recreational fishing industry, they
contaminate our drinking water and they trash our
thriving tourist industry that relies on the natural
beauty of our area,� said Richardson. �And the
stripped lands that are left can no longer absorb the
seasonal rainfall, causing massive flooding and loss
of life. People should not have to die when it rains,�
he said.
The hearing, called by Senator Joseph Lieberman
(D-Conn.) was held because of the current
administration�s recent attempt to circumvent the
Clean Water Act by redefining �fill� to include
�overburden� or mining waste. Such a move �clearly
exceeds the administration�s legal authority granted
under the Act,� said Richardson, addressing the
Committee. As an advocate of alternative and renewable
energy sources, he said, �This is not about shutting
down the coal industry, it�s about making coal compete
for our energy dollar on an equal playing field with
natural gas, hydroelectric, solar and wind.� He added
that coal companies, as well as other mining
companies, should have to manage their industrial
waste like any other industry is required. But, he
said, instead of thriving from honest business
practices in a free market, these companies are
passing the real costs of their business to the
American public and exploiting the people of
Appalachia.
Richardson is president and founder of the
environmental foundation, Just Within Reach, which
last month joined water quality advocate, Robert F.
Kennedy, Jr., and the Center for Appalachian Studies
at Eastern Kentucky University in establishing a
Kentucky Riverkeeper. The Riverkeeper is the ninetieth
water monitoring organization launched by Kennedy�s
Waterkeeper Alliance. At the time of the launch,
Richardson hosted Kennedy on a flight over the mines
to witness only a portion of the 1,000 miles of West
Virginia headwater streams and over 500 miles of
Kentucky streams that already have been buried under
valley fills. Kennedy said, �Big coal is treating the
state as if it were a business in liquidation. Its
executives make themselves rich by making other
Americans poor and destroying our great historical
landscapes, our culture and our waterways.�
Perhaps Richardson�s most impassioned concern is for
the kids who will one day inherit the waters that we
have the power and know-how to protect. �I want to see
healthy and thriving waters that are worthy of future
generations. I, like many, want rivers and streams
preserved so I can share them with my kids one day. I
don�t want anyone to have to point to a valley fill
and say, �that�s where the river I played in used to
be,�� said Richardson. �Nobody deserves that.�